Hasbro’s ‘New’ Monopoly Game Under Attack

A consumer watchdog group is up in arms over Hasbro’s plans to release an updated version of its iconic Monopoly game that adds McDonald’s French Fries and Starbucks coffee to the mix.

Commercial Alert, a nonprofit organization formed to prevent commercialism from exploiting children, is charging that Hasbro is toying with children’s health by featuring McDonald’s, Starbucks and other branded tokens in the game. The new Monopoly: Here & Now Edition, which features five-branded game pieces and new property names, hits stores today and sells for $29.99.

“Hasbro has undercut one of the prime virtues of its own product,” said Jonathan Rowe, issues director of Commercial Alert, in a statement. “Now the game is touting consumption. Maybe Hasbro should rename it to ‘Huckster Haven.”

Gary Ruskin, Commercial Alert’s executive director, said Hasbro is invading what traditionally was commercial-free space with corporate sponsors in the Monopoly game. “Children need commercial-free space,” he said. “Hasbro doesn’t get it.”

Hasbro, however, maintains the company updated the game on its own accord to reflect things consumers would find in America today. The company said the five brands featured in the game did not approach Hasbro or pay for their placement.

“This was not a sponsorship or promotion, no money changed hands,” said Hasbro spokesperson Pat Riso. “We wanted to create something that would be a reflection of pop culture in America life today. This is all with tongue firmly planted in cheek. It’s meant to be just lots of fun.”

The company sat down with game designers and developed a list of partners it felt made “the most sense” to feature in the game, Riso said. In addition to McDonald’s and Starbucks, the new version of Monopoly also features a New Balance running shoe (to replace the shoe token), a Toyota Prius (to replace the sport car token) and a Motorola RAZR cell phone. Of the three new, unbranded tokens a jet replaces the battleship, a Labradoodle replaces the Scottish terrier; and a laptop computer token is a new game piece.

“We gave a lot of thought to creating this game, the game board and the property,” Riso said. “We did try to strike a balance by having some branded, iconic tokens, as well as some generic tokens. For those who feel uncomfortable about this, the original Monopoly game is not going away. That is still here.”

During the spring, consumers cast more than 3 million votes online to determine which landmarks from 22 cities should appear in the game and the location for each landmark. New York City’s Times Square won the coveted highest rent property space, which Boardwalk occupies in the traditional game. Other property landmarks include the White House, Disney World, Texas Stadium in Dallas and Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Other portions of the 71-year-old game have also changed, including board game money. For example, players can collect $2 million by passing Go instead of the traditional $200. The game’s Chance and Community Chest cards feature new updates with high cash payouts, including the chance to win $100,000 from a reality TV show compared to $10 in a beauty contest in the original game.

Hasbro worked with Federal Express to ship 134,000 Monopoly: Here & Now board games to 7,200 retails stores in time for its debut today.

TV spots, print ads in People and USA Today and online materials will support the rollout. Grey Worldwide, New York City, handles ads; tribal DDB handles online ads.